


Morton's fork

by jsandrsn



Series: Morton's fork [2]
Category: The Flash (TV 2014), The Flash - All Media Types
Genre: Drama, Episode Related, Episode: s01e17, Love/Hate, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-08
Updated: 2019-04-08
Packaged: 2020-01-06 18:36:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,498
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18394058
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jsandrsn/pseuds/jsandrsn
Summary: Given two options whether he betrays Barry or himself, Eobard Thawne realizes there has always been no choice.





	Morton's fork

**Author's Note:**

> Okay, I actually don't know English, but it just seems to me right when I use it.  
> So, I think I should warn you this work might contain stupid mistakes etc.

Barry leaves the cortex, nervously following him to the room with 'Cisco-ed' treadmill in it. Barry watches and explores his face, looking for something to prove a new theory or, the opposite, hopefully crush it. Eobard knows the man like he knows himself or perhaps even better. Quivering thin lips, little wrinkles around Barry's eyes when he squints for a moment. Eobard can read Barry so easy he thinks he didn't even need to know what Barry was up to to realize that he knows.  
  
Although, struggling to accept that knowledge.  
  
Eobard loudly exhales, feeling somehow nervous himself. He's toying with the pulpit in his hands to handle that stress. He had always had only two options yet he didn't really want to execute any decision that is destined to change the future entirely different ways.  
  
Now he's forced to do something and the choice is harder than he thought. Letting down the Flash is not something new, quite the opposite, actually, though, betraying Barry Allen somehow disgusts him on molecular level.  
  
"I know what's going on with you," he says, calculating the risk.  
  
How can he not betray Barry without betraying himself? If he's determined to tell the truth then the chances of his survival… Well, it would be a miracle if he's not dead the second he opens his mouth. Eobard stares at the wall as if it could contain all the answers.  
  
No, he thinks, this — his — Barry wouldn't kill him. This boy will only want to know the answers and his biological parent released from Iron Heights, the prison that once held him in his past. This boy will do anything for his father, Eobard knows it.  
  
Was there a single moment when Barry would have done anything for him should he asked?

He turns around to see Barry; both are tensed. Eobard can hear small breaths Barry takes, contrasting to his own suddenly loud pulse in the chest.  
  
Barry pretends like he doesn't know anything — poorly. Somehow messing with Barry Allen's mind seems fun and magnetic as if that choice is the only option he has. He knows that it's only because it's natural, thinking about his previous life. The more you break the law or let down people who genuinely care for you the easier it is, he thinks.  
  
It was in his previous life as Eobard Thawne, after all, yet he is Harrison Wells now and he'd only killed twenty — or close to that number — in fifteen years. He considered that as improvement though he despised himself for not being loyal to his beliefs. Eobard almost didn't feel that much hate and anger towards Barry Allen as he did before.  
  
He thinks he can actually forgive the boy, given the time. Perhaps, it could take one year — just like this one, full of events — or a lifetime to recover himself. Yet, Eobard wants to possess Barry Allen in a way Harrison Wells could, to have him wrecked and destroyed but still full of adoration and love. The Flash seems human now to him but it's not that awful like he once imagined. Barry cares for human beings, every single one of them, and it is beautiful, despite Eobard's lack of understanding.  
  
"I know what you're thinking," he says and these words add more tension between them. Barry tries to stand still.  
  
Eobard can't help himself so smiles a little, and he feels how much warmth he puts in that smile it pains him. He knows that Barry sees it as if he's somehow amused — and he is, anyway. His play has come to an end.  
  
"Do you?" asks Barry, testing him. He doesn't want it to be true so badly, Eobard thinks, he wants to run away from the truth just as Thawne does.

Eobard regrets killing Nora Allen more than anything, after all. The biggest mistake he made. Sometimes he wonders if he could change the history from the beginning, erase the Reverse Flash and maybe live for himself only and not for them both.  
  
"I did," he finally states, answering the most important question. Why does it feel so hard, he wonders.  
  
Barry is processing and then repeats, "You… did?" He is now more confused but Eobard feels that Barry got to the point exactly, just avoiding this possible meaning.  
  
There is this awkward silence between them now and Eobard feels like he can't breathe. He presses his index finger to the touchscreen on his wheelchair. A loud click makes Barry turn around to see what might've triggered it. Eobard knows Barry feels trapped and scared now. More so, Thawne himself doesn't know what to feel now. How can he know the exact thoughts crossing Barry's mind but not know how should he feel himself?  
  
"Did you just close the door?" asks Barry, smiling nervously. He starts to panic once again and Eobard can sense his purest 'Oh no, he knows I know, he's gonna kill me, I'm dead already' vibes coming out.  
  
"I was just thinking about us not being interrupted, Barry," he says as chilly as possible.  
  
Barry remained being silent like he couldn't do a thing, he's barely looking at him. The boy was staring at him in the cortex just a little earlier and now couldn't keep an eye on him like it was painful somehow.  
  
"Are you alright, Barry?" he teases, can't help but mess with Barry's mind. "I was hoping we could have a little chit-chat about your parent."  
  
"You wanted to talk about my mother?" Barry asks, finally ready to look at him. "Why?"  
  
"I think you know why, Barry. This is why I wanted to talk about your father," Eobard responds and then scoffs. "Unless… you'd rather tell me whether you wished to talk about your mother, of course."  
  
It is so easy, confusing this child. Barry, one way or another, is just a shadow of a remembered hero, yet so bright and full of life it almost feels like there never was another Flash from another timeline.  
  
Barry is angry now.  
  
"Stop it," he says. Barry touches his forehead with his hands and he moves three steps left. "Stop it," he repeats, pointing to Eobard like it's an accusation and blame.  
  
Now Thawne knows what to do exactly.  
  
"Sit, Mr. Allen," he asks, pointing to the treadmill's foundation with his palm and slowly turning to this direction, expecting that Barry will listen to him anyways. "I presume this conversation will be quite… pointy, shall we say?"  
  
Suddenly, a loud vibrating sound interrupts them and Barry checks his phone and then smiles. Eobard decides, it's someone close. He thinks it's not Joe who's texting, considering he's been here, and not Barry's co-workers from CCPD definetly. So, it could be Iris West or maybe Felicity Smoak, but not Linda. Barry looks like he wants to run, and Eobard finally realizes who this person is.  
  
"Uhm, it's Iris," he apologizes, "we'll talk later then, right?"  
  
Barry is looking full of hope that he can actually delay this conversation Eobard started, though the boy wants to figure out his mother's murder case so badly and it shows.

"No, we won't, Mr. Allen, not like this. It's either now or under different circumstances I do not want to test," quietly states Eobard and then adds, "not anymore."  
  
Eobard feels like his mouth is dry, he doesn't want to feel this weak, he thinks in the silence. How can he escape his emotions if it was them driving him to this decision? He hates it now.  
  
"Barry…"  
  
"Okay," agrees Barry, standing still and holding on to his jacket nervously, shy and anxious. He puts his phone in the pocket and looks around through the glass window if somebody followed them. Eobard knows Barry's thoughts: What if Joe starts worrying about him and ruins everything? What if he gets himself or somebody else killed? What if Wells decides to kill his dad too?  
  
"I'm not going to offer you questioning me, considering you've already heard the answer."  
  
"What?" Barry asks, and Thawne pulls up closer to him while the other instinctively recoils back. "What do you mean?" he smiles, fake and uncomprehending.  
  
Eobard stops, though he wants to push more. He thinks of Barry Allen, broken, in his imagination — he could possibly achieve that, he could make him be at his mercy, forced to play his games, struggling and fighting back yet constantly losing. Barry Allen in his imagination — this perfect picture of a broken hero — is helpless, he's relying on Eobard only, he makes Thawne feel powerful and right.

Eobard thinks he probably won't see this picture becoming reality now that he decided to act on his emotions and not logic.  
  
"Let me show you," he puts in gently and he hates himself for that either. How could he not? Devoting his whole life to destroy the Flash, now he can't even think about hurting Barry Allen in any way without causing the pain to himself.


End file.
